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| Seattle |
Vancouver |
Stanley Park |
Lynn Canyon |
Victoria |
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| Kalaloch |
Ozette |
Hoh |
Hurricane Ridge |
Seattle |
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Our trip began in the Emerald City - Seattle, Washington. We arrived at Sea-Tac International Airport at 3:00 PM, grabbed our rental car, and made our way north toward the downtown area. As we drove north, I couldn't help but gawk in awe at that enormous prominence behind us, Mt. Rainier. The Native Americans first named it Tacoma, which translates to "Mother of all waters", and Captain George Vancouver, the first European to lay eyes on the peak, renamed the mountain in honor of his friend, Rear Admiral Peter Rainier. Whatever you call it, the mountain stands at 13,210 feet tall and only 57 miles as the crow flies from downtown Seattle. In other words, it's about as easy to find as the sky.
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Mt. Rainier "Tacoma". Photo taken by the nice lady who sat near me on the flight from New Orleans. I lost her information, so if you're reading this, thanks again for the photo, and e-mail me again please!
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After a brief pit stop at the Travelodge in the University District, we were ready to begin exploring Seattle. For our first stop, we met friends at Flowers Restaurant in the University District. An annotation in my travel notebook reads, "Delicious Paella! Two tasty local brews: Hale's Ale Red Menace and Maritime Pacific's Islander Pale Ale".
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Flowers Bar & Restaurant
4247 University Way NE,
Seattle, WA (206) 633-1903
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The next morning began with breakfast at Mae's Phinney Ridge Cafe, famous for Mae's extensive collection of salt and pepper shakers, eclectic breakfast cuisine, and Mae's cinnamon rolls. To be honest, the cinnamon rolls were "not as good as I remembered them", according to Nicole. Thankfully, the rest of the food was fantastic and the ambiance unique.
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Our last Seattle stop for the day was Green Lake Park. Green Lake, named by surveyer David Phillips for its susceptiblity to algae blooms, is a beautiful green space with a well-maintained 2.8-mile paved path all around. The vision for this park and many others in the Seattle area was part of the Olmsted Plan, a grand landscaping project headed by brothers John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
The object of the project was to create a major system of parks within the Seattle area. This project was actually one of the duo's smaller-scale projects. The brothers and their father are also responsible for projects in the United States Capitol and White House Grounds, Great Smoky Mountains and Acadia National Parks, Yosemite Valley, New York's Central Park, Atlanta's Piedmont Park, and entire park systems in other cities such as Boston and Louisville.
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| Green Lake
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| Angela and Nicole in Green Lake Park. Notice the paved path just over Angela's shoulder.
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| Angela making daisy chains.
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| Dane reluctantly wearing a daisy chain. He's a good sport.
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Click play to watch these young Seattleites attempt to catch a Green Lake bullfrog. |
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After mid day, we checked out of the hotel and started up I-5 for Vancouver, British Columbia. At the US/Canada border I snapped the water tower photo below. This tower is on a slim spit of land shooting off of the Semiahmoo Peninsula. Less than a mile from the border, this has to be one of the northernmost US water towers I've ever seen.
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| Possibly the northernmost water tower in the western US - on Semiahmoo Peninsula spit near the Semiahmoo Resort.
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| Seattle |
Vancouver |
Stanley Park |
Lynn Canyon |
Victoria |
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| Kalaloch |
Ozette |
Hoh |
Hurricane Ridge |
Seattle |
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